The Ice-man Cometh
The Ice-man Cometh was a narrative released on the official Killer Instinct website to serve as a rebooted backstory for Glacius in Killer Instinct (2013). It was released in a news post on October 26, 2015. Glacius' Story The alien being called Glacius hails from a distant planetary system where he serves as a galactic marshal, hunting down lifeforms that have violated any of the “88 Decrees” of the Alliance of Worlds. Powerful telepathic beings, Glacius’s race has the ability to bend simple molecular structure to their will, encasing their relatively defenseless bodies in all manner of protective shells. This gives their species an ability to adapt to environments easily and turn local resources from any planet into native forms of defense and attack, allowing them to move from planet to planet, and thus always with a means of besting their quarry. A faint distress signal reaches the marshal’s relay network, sent from the fringes of known space. The location is pinpointed on a developing world, the only data available on it found in the deep archives. A notorious criminal from decades earlier had fled into deep space, pursued by the marshals until a final battle took place near the planet. The criminal’s ship was heavily damaged in the battle, lost control, and burned up in the atmosphere. The case was considered closed and the criminal filed as deceased. Responding to the odd, ancient transmission, Glacius’ ship is attacked by weapons technologies this race should not possess – ones that only an elevated species would have access to. Unprepared from such an assault, his ship is heavily damaged and it crashes in Antarctica. The impact from the crash destroys Glacius’ native shell, so he quickly adopts the arctic ice to his body, forming a new shell. Then he sets out to find the origin of the weapons used on him, and those responsible for the fake signal as well as the attack on his ship. His transition to a new shell takes some time, however, and during this metamorphosis he discovers that components of his ship have been removed, including the highly confidential dimensional fold power core, which allows his ship to move great distances through space. As a security measure, it should have detonated on removal from his ship, but it did not self-destruct. As he sets out from the crash site and observes the creatures on Earth, he realizes their technology is corrupted – they have been exposed to ideas and technologies they should not yet have, a serious violation of several of the “88 Decrees”. Glacius is lured into the Killer Instinct tournament through carefully orchestrated clues to his core’s location. He plays along with the leads, knowing he is being set up for some unknown purpose, but confident in his ability to defeat anything this planet can throw at him. He assumes that he will eventually confront the one responsible for his crash and the origin of the alien tech that has uplifted this world. Finally confronting Sadira, Glacius defeats the one whom he suspects holds the answers, only to realize she too was playing a part in a greater manipulation. He watches as she uses samples of his genetic code taken during the battle to bypass the safeties on the fold core and open a wormhole to… elsewhere. The portal opens only briefly before it collapses, but Glacius recognizes the importance of this act. Someone on this planet now has control over a fold core, meaning they can bend space to their will. This is a serious violation of the “88 Decrees,” and to leave now would be a criminal act on his part. His path set before him, he vows to search further and discover the holder of the core before they can abuse its powers. During his trainings, Glacius studied the dangers of folding space and the powers it could unleash in the wrong hands. Misuse of this power could open doorways to places best left sealed and cross not only simple distance, but dimensions, some of which contain things that have been “removed” for the greater good due to their corruptive natures. Fearing the corruption that comes from contact with these beings, Glacius focuses on improving his Hail technique to keep these new horrors at bay. External Links Glacius' Official Backstory on the official Killer Instinct Website Glacius' Character Page on the official Killer Instinct Website Category:Story Category:Killer Instinct 2013